


They Think They Know What We're Going Through (they don't know nothing)

by Charmeetbar



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: established relationship if, ig, imagine that Dennis heard mitski's cover of Lets Get Married.... the power that has
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 17:38:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19399099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charmeetbar/pseuds/Charmeetbar
Summary: Basically a sappy mitski macadennis fic :)) Set in the future when they are together and in loooove. Not really any plot except for Dennis being gay .





	They Think They Know What We're Going Through (they don't know nothing)

It was ridiculous really, to be nervous about something which had been planned so meticulously. He’d gone over each scenario, each possible endings so many times that his mind would drift during the day towards the ones he liked best. It was actually starting to become a problem- lately he had started to forget that he had yet to actually ask the question. Just yesterday he and Mac had been fixing the jukebox in the bar (broken by customers after the gang had tried to transform the bar into a bowling alley earlier that week) when Mac had laughed at something Dennis said, brown eyes lighting up as their shoulders brushed. It had taken a huge amount of self restraint to not lean into him and whisper ‘I love you,’- he’d opted instead for tugging softly on Mac’s wrist and kissing him until he stopped laughing and pressed Dennis into the wall. 

This new thing they’d started reminded him of a snake losing its skin to reveal the same skin underneath, almost indistinguishable from the first save for strength and brilliance. They’d been cricling each other for decades, and now that they were finally on even footing there was no way Dennis was going to risk messing things up by rushing through his feelings. It had taken them long enough and he planned on savoring each moment. And anyways even if Mac was the only one saying anything out loud, there was no way he didn’t know that Dennis said it back each time in his own head. It was folded into the way he slept with his face pressed into Mac’s neck, the way he ran his hand down his back whenever he stood next to him. All the long warm days of pressing into eachother, dizzy with the feeling of  _ finally. _

He realized of course that it was unusual to propose to someone before admitting that you’re in love with them, but he couldn’t see a way around it. Telling someone you loved them should be a big deal, he thought, reserved for the moments where you don’t know where you’re headed and can’t stand the thought of leaving anything unsaid between you. Its not something to be said teasingly when someone is complaining about traffic, or grabbing you a beer- something Mac seemed to be incapable of understanding. (That morning Mac had spread his warm hands over Dennis back as he was getting ready in the bathroom, whispering into his hair that he loved him. Dennis’ stomach felt like he’d jumped off of a cliff and into deep blue water, and he had a difficult time putting his toothbrush back into the cup on their sink, but he didn’t say it back. Just turned around and kissed Mac softly, skin singing with each press of their lips). 

____ 

Now its evening, and Mac is sitting at the table as Dennis puts the finishing touches on their meal- pulling the roast from the oven, pouring the dressing over the salad. He even lights the candles on their table, realizing he’s being nonsensically romantic and deciding that he doesn’t care. Tomorrow they can go back to their shitty, below average lives with their shitty, below average friends. Tonight, just tonight, is going to be a movie. 

‘This looks amazing, Dennis,’ Mac says as he takes in the feast before him. Mac looks beautiful in the candle light, shadows flickering into his deep brown eyes and making them appear even warmer than usual. He looks like a real person, Dennis thinks, someone who is good and kind. Dennis knows deep down that he’s not, and is grateful for it. ‘Thanks,’ Dennis smiles. ‘It only took me like, half the afternoon.’ 

Mac rolls his eyes and begins serving himself, heaping mashed potatoes onto his plate alongside the chicken, and drowning it all in so much gravy that it spills over the edge of the plate and onto the table. Dennis can’t help but snort; Mac ignores him in favor of shoveling hot food into his mouth. 

Mac looks up from his plate after a minute, and gazes across the table at Dennis. He’s smiling slightly, hair soft and loose the way he’s been wearing it ever since Dennis mentioned its how he likes it best. 

‘This is awesome, dude,’ Mac says. ‘The candles are a really nice touch. It’s a good light for you.’ He smiles again at the last part. Mac seems to take a weird pleasure in complimenting him. 

Dennis reaches instinctively towards a comment that will lessen the obviously romantic atmosphere, something to shut Mac out. His heartbeat picks up speed as he remembers that the point of this evening  _ is _ romance. Years of diffusing situations like this, and now he’s purposefully putting himself in harms way. Purposefully commiting to a whole new set of years together. His throat tightens at the thought, and grips the tablecloth ever so slightly. 

‘Yeah,’ he finally chokes out. ‘For you, uh. For you too.’ He breathes in deeply before releasing the cloth bunched up in his hands- if he wants the night to go well he needs to survive dinner first. 

The rest of the meal is spent the way all their meals are, laughing between arguments about nothing. At some point Mac’s foot finds Dennis’ under the table, a familar pressure. Dennis leans towards him as Mac recounts his day, not even caring that he was there for half of it, and that the other half is blatantly told to make Mac look good- he isn’t even annoyed when Mac claims to have beaten up a homeless man behind the alley for defacing the outside of the bar. He knows that Mac actually stood behind Charlie while Charlie waved around his rat stick because Charlie had been bitching about it when they came back in, but it doesn’t really matter because the way Mac sets his shoulders and leans back into his chair kind of makes Dennis want to abandon his plate and move into Mac’s lap. Maybe convince him to move things into the living room, leave the mess to be cleaned up later. But rushing things isn’t part of the plan, he reminds himself, so he waits things out, lets Mac finish his stories before trying to wrap things up. 

‘That’s hilarious, man,’ Dennis says, resting his hand on Mac’s shoulder as he stands to move his dishes into the sink. Mac stands too and helps him put the leftovers away. They clean in comfortable silence, full from dinner and the soft light of the candles. 

Dennis moves behind Mac, who’s putting the last of the food into the fridge, and wraps his arms around him. He presses his weight into Mac’s back and can feel him stumble forwards a little as he adjusts to the new weight. Mac laughs a little, turning around in Dennis’ arms until their nose to nose, eye to eye. Dennis burrows his face in Mac’s neck briefly, before stepping back. His hands are in the hem of Mac’s shirt, and he maintains eye contact as he pulls Mac into their living room. 

Outside the cars rush by on the street below. The sound of the city fills the room, soothing in its consistency. So many years spent here as their lives twined together, the sound of their neighborhood falling asleep the one constant as their lives churned and shifted. The evening light is pink, slanting in through the window to rest on their worn carpet. 

‘What’re you doing?’ Mac asks as Dennis pulls him to the center of the room. Dennis doesn’t respond, just ducks in to kiss Mac’s cheek, the soft skin of his throat beneath his jaw. Mac’s hands tighten slightly around Denn’s wrists, but he doesn’t move beyond the shallow breaths he’s pulling in. 

‘Stay here for a minute. I wanna show you something.’ 

Mac nods as Dennis pulls away and moves across the room to the laptop they have attached to speakers in the corner of the room. His chest rises and falls rapidly as he considers what he’s about to do and he almost chickens out, almost decides to play it safe and put on one of the songs they’ve danced to countless other times. But then he looks back at Mac, stood in the center of the room with his hands at his sides, watching him with a slightly puzzled look. Instinct takes over as he presses play, a deep desire to move them in a new direction filling his limbs. 

He walks back to Mac as the song plays gently- he knows Mac is watching him instead of listening, so he hurries to him. He wraps his arms around Mac’s shoulders and Mac automatically tugs him closer, looping his arms behind Dennis’ back and rubbing gently at the base of this spine. Dennis tips his face towards Mac’s ear and leans in. ‘Listen,’ he whispers. Mac seems surprised but nods, resting his face against the side of Dennis’ as he pays attention to the words. 

_ Hey baby, baby,  _ the singer starts,  _ I've been gone, I've been gone, I've been so far gone lately…  _ Mac traces shapes into Dennis’ back through his shirt as breathes in the words. He almost breaks down at the words  _ bad, bad people don’t live in our house _ \- wonders if Mac hears that as a lie too. Dennis can feel his heart pounding as Mac sways them gently back and forth. He exhales shakily as the words he’s been waiting for wrap around them, sweet and gentle: 

_ And I know it's hard enough to love me _

_ But woke up in a safe house singing, "Honey, let's get married _ "

Mac stops moving abruptly, jostling Dennis into looking up at him. Their faces are a breath apart, and Mac’s eyes are wider than he’s ever seen them. Wider even than when he kissed him weeks ago and didn’t pull back, just kept his hands on Mac’s hips and waited for a response. Wider than the first night they’d slept together, when Mac had been so careful it hurts him to remember it.

Mac isn’t careful now as he snaps out of his shock and kisses Dennis. He’s swift and sure, kisses like he never doubts this thing between them. Dennis lets out a breath so sharp he wonder’s if its the first time he’s exhaled all day before moving back into Mac, pressing their noses together as Mac’s hands skim from his shoulders all the way down his arms, where they tangle with Dennis’ hands. 

‘You didn’t listen to the whole thing,’ Dennis whispers, smiling as Mac moves his mouth over his neck, then down to his collarbone. His hands stay big and warm on Dennis’ skin; he refuses to let Dennis shift even slightly out of his grip.

‘Don’t need to, honey. I heard what you wanted me to, right?’ he huffs out a little laugh. 

Dennis blushes at that. He looks up, about to call Mac a prick for laughing at him at a time like this, but Mac isn’t laughing at him at all. Just looking back at him and smiling softly as he waits for Dennis to respond. Something hot and satisfied blooms in the pit of Dennis stomach, and his throat closes over slightly as he gazes back. 

‘Yeah, you did.’ is all he can get out, but its enough for Mac, who leans back in to kiss him again, and again, and again. 

______

Later, when they’re exhausted and lying in bed with Dennis heavy on Mac’s chest Mac says, 

‘You do know its usual to like, tell someone you love them  _ before  _ you ask them to marry you. Its kind of the order things go, dude.’ 

‘I know,’ Dennis mumbles, too tired and happy to want to discuss his motives right now. ‘But it felt right to do it this way. You already know I love you. Now you just know that I’m in too deep to ever get out. Minds well get the law involved at this point,’ He’s just kidding, and Mac knows it, but Dennis can feel the way he keeps his hands tight on Dennis back. Like he can’t quite relax. Dennis sighs the worldest greatest sigh, then leans in until his nose brushes Mac’s. He leans in until their lips are almost touching, then says, ‘Mac, baby. I love you. I’ve always loved you. And now I’m gonna marry you.’ 

Mac doesn’t say anything back, just grins and pulls Dennis in close. When they fall asleep its to the sound of deep breathing and the city slowly wakening outside, as the earth continues to orbit the sun. Maybe, Dennis thinks as he drifts off, he’ll orbit Mac instead. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> hmu on tumblr to talk abut these idiots :) [macspussyhands](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/macspussyhands)


End file.
